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President’s Council on Physical Fitness

We in the running world contain variants of every political persuasion, making the sport the true Big Tent, an open flap for everyone. One reason the sport is so inclusive is because it is so honest and pure (at least in heart, if not always in practice). Anybody can do it, yes, but you can’t talk your way into a good performance, it’s all there in the training log, hard work and perseverance, the most basic lesson of the sport, you get out what you put in. And based on that metric alone I think we can see a new way to evaluate the Big Bopper in Washington D.C.

Those of a certain vintage will remember the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, a prophetic program that encouraged kids to get out and exercise at a time when there was a near universal introduction of television sets into American homes. Though begun by President Eisenhower in 1956, the council was re-invigorated by President Kennedy in 1963. The Presidential Champions Award was given to students who achieved the top fifteenth percentile across a series of events: 50-yard dash, 600-yard dash, Standing broad jump, Pull-ups (boys), Flexed-arm hang (girls), Sit-ups in 60-seconds, and the shuttle run.

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Houston, Texas – Shellie Pfohl, executive director of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, Sports and Nutrition addressed the attendees of the Running USA Ashworth Youth Awards Luncheon yesterday. A dynamic speaker, Ms. Pfohl gave an impassioned presentation illustrating the vital importance of getting and keeping America’s youth active. She acknowlegded the need for assistance in returning physical education to the nation’s schools. Her message was clear and concise as she preached to what was essentially the choir. Later, I met Ms. Pfohl in the lobby of the hotel, and asked about the flight of societal hurdles facing today’s children which I’d measured in a previous post WHAT DIRECTION RUNNING USA?

I concluded, “The President’s Council has been around for nearly 60 years, through 11 presidents and spent billions of dollars. So how would you assess the overall impact of your agency in terms of the nation’s current health status?”

“I agree with everything you are saying,” she began. “But you see, that’s what everyone thinks, that we spend billions of dollars. Do you know what our annual budget is? $1.2 million!”

“You’re kidding? That’s it?”

No, in fact, she wasn’t kidding. The President’s Council on Physical Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, which began in 1953 under Dwight Eisenhower as a cabinet-level position, is as substantial as the Hollywood back lot western town Mel Brooks used for Blazing Saddles. It’s a facade. Just for comparison sake, Corn Subsidies in the United States totaled $77.1 billion from 1995-2010.

If it weren’t so tragic, I guess it would be funny. Here we are proposing to spend a real $billion or more to combat Alzheimer’s, a form of dementia that causes progressive loss of intellectual and social skills, while at the same time we publicize home delivery of Burger King. We’ve become so busy/lazy as a society that we won’t even go out to the car and drive to the fast-food restaurant anymore? Are they going to pre-chew that Whopper for us, too? I’d say it’s a blessing we get Alzheimer’s; it makes us forget to just shoot ourselves.

Thousands of miles away old friend Jack Waitz is in Iten, Kenya witnessing first-hand the factory like manner in which the Kenyans from the Central Highlands continue to churn out world-class distance runners.

“Eye-opening, isn’t it, Jack,” I wrote on his Facebook page.

“For sure, there are mornings with 250!” Meaning 250 runners gathering to train.

“It’s a numbers/talent/economic/cultural equation that seems beyond the capacity of any other nation,” I replied. “Kenya builds distance runners the way the U.S. builds diabetics.”

And, evidently, Alzheimer’s patients – though Alzheimer’s is only the sixth leading cause of death in America behind such traditional gravediggers as heart disease, cancer, and chronic lower respiratory diseases. Good thing we have that $1.2 million from the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, Sports and Nutrition working for us. That ought to help make that Alzheimer’s initiative that much more effective.